Friday, 18 November 2022

Love To Read Books with Cats? Book Reviews with Amber at The Mewton-Clawson Library #217 featuring **Arsenic and Old Books** by Miranda James PLUS Friendly Fill-Ins

Book Reviews with Amber at The Mewton-Clawson Library ©BionicBasil®

Hello gorgeous library guests 

and 

Welcome to the Mewton-Clawson Library at BBHQ 

Thank mew for joining me in the stacks today, and let me tell mew before we begin, I haven't had the best week, and yesterday it just got worse. Just take a look at my face for confurmation of this fact!

Amber's Book Reviews #217 ©BionicBasil® Amber the Grouch

If mew read Angel Basil's post on Wednesday, mew'll know that our internet service at BBHQ has been out since 10pm on Sunday evening. We got an update on Wednesday to say it would be on at 18.53pm on Thursday.

Anyhoo, the P.A. checked the status on Thursday morning and saw the **NEW** date.

Guess when that is?

THE FLUFFING 9TH OF DECEMBER!!!!!

Mew can see how annoyed I am because not only is that text in bold, it's underlined and has five exclamation marks!

The P.A rang the service provider yesterday to ask 'what the fluffing fluff is fluffing going on?' And was told that there's an issue with the wires coming to the village and that it's being worked on right now but it won't be restored until the 9th of December.

Let me tell me, there isn't anyone working on anything, and there hasn't been anyone working on anything since Tuesday.

This displeases me no end as I need an internet connection to do my weekly post, and yesterday it was truly heinous, as we had to hotspot the P.A.'s phone to the PC to try and write this and it took forever as the 4G kept dropping out because the only cell tower in the area was struck by lightning in 2013 and it was never replaced. What a fluffing disaster.

Plus we're in the middle of getting the Catmas cards designed, the new winter and Catmas banners and now all that's gone down the swanny.

Please send some pawsitive vibes, so that we can get up and running as soon as pawsible.

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Today the P.A. is also joining in Friday Fill-ins Blog Hop with the pawesome 15 & Meowing and Four-Legged Furballs.

1. On holidays, I usually have a second serving of _________________________.
2. I am thankful for ______________, ________________ and ________________________.
3. I would like to invite _________ over for a feast.
4. _________ was a blessing in disguise.

The P.A.'s answers are...


1. On holidays, I usually have a second serving of whatever takes my fancy in that moment! LOL 

2. I am thankful for small mercies, occasional blessings and the luck of the Irish on rare occasions.

3. I would like to invite all my blogging friends over to BBHQ for a feast. It would be a riot for sure! LOL

4.  Not landscaping the back corner of the garden until this year was a blessing in disguise. I was planning on sharing the final Gardening with Cats post on Monday so you can see it all finished, though with the internet issue I might leave it now until the Spring, sorry.

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Let's see what I've got to show mew this time!

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This week's top book pick is...

Amber's Book Reviews #217 What Are We Reading This Week ©BionicBasil® Arsenic and Old Books by Miranda James
Mewton-Clawson Library Copy

Arsenic and Old Books


Cat in the Stacks Mystery Book 6

by 

Miranda James

       Here's a little snippet of the book blurb:      

Lucinda Beckwith Long, the mayor of Athena, has donated a set of Civil War-era diaries to the archives of Athena College. The mayor would like Charlie to preserve and to substantiate them as a part of the Long family legacy - something that could benefit her son Beck as he prepares to campaign for the state senate.

Beck's biggest rival is Jasper Singletary, and their families have been bitter enemies since the Civil War. He'd like to get a look at the diaries in an attempt to expose the Long family's past sins. Meanwhile, a history professor at the college is also determined to get her hands on the books in a last-ditch bid for tenure. Now Charlie is left with a catalog of questions. 


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Before we jump into this week's review, here are the previous reviews for this series so far:

Murder Past Due ~ Book One - Reviewed by Humphrey


File M for Murder ~ Book Three

Out of Circulation ~ Book Four



So what did I think about book 6? Mew know Miranda James always delivers a really excellent cozy mystery novel, and they never disappoint.

In book 6 we meet some new characters as the cast expands a little further with each story. Though Charlie and Diesel are still front and centre in all the murderous mayhem. 

I thought I had the purrpetrator pinned on a couple of occasions, but Miranda James out-foxed me until almost the end. The tempo is wonderfully paced in a lovely southern way, never rushed just right on time in an exceedingly well-mannered fashion. The plot weaves us around the lovely town of Athena and of course, there are the dead ends and obligatory red herrings.

This is another Top Paw read, so if mew haven't read it already, do add it to your to-read list as I'm sure mew will enjoy it as much as I did.

  • Mass Market Paperback: ‎ 320 pages
  • Audio: 8 hours 23mins
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My Ratings Scale

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Ratings of:

Arsenic and Old Books

Overall Enjoyment

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Other Fun Blog Hops to Join in Today



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I really hope mew enjoy the book as much as I did if mew decide to read it.

It's time for me to say BFN or bye-fur-now as mew know the drill, so many books, so little time and I'll be back next week with another specially paw-picked book just for mew, and don't furget that all my previous reviews can be found on my Book Review page.

Until next time...

Keep calm and read more books

Amber 


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11 comments:

  1. WOW, that's not internet service, that's internet lack-of-service. Those were good fill-in answers and a good book review too. Thanks for joining our Thankful Thursday Blog Hop!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow, we would feel cut off from the world and all of our friends, and its rough enough for a day or two, but December 9?? Sheesh!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They need to give you a discount of each day of not having the internet.

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  3. December 9th is ridiculous!!" Surely they could fix something up temporarily. You also need it for your business so I hope they will pay good compensation.
    If you have anything liker Airband in your area you should think about changing to them. They don't use phone lines but receivers instead. We have a pole with transmitters on in our top field and one points directly at the receiver on our bungalow. It is not ultra fast, we get 30mbps but that is the same as we got from BT.
    Another great review, Amber. I must say you look really mad, but with good reason.

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  4. We would happily travel to visit for a feast!
    Hope your electronic issues resolve much, MUCH faster than that!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm sorry you're having Internet issues. I hate it when that happens and waiting so long for a fix is horrible.

    Love your fill-ins and would love to come over for BBQ.

    Great book review as always, Amber. You rock.

    Thank you for joining the Feline Friday Blog Hop.

    Have a purrfect Feline Friday and weekend. Scritches all around and a hug to mom. ♥

    ReplyDelete
  6. 1. On holidays, I usually have a second serving (or more) of catnip.
    2. I am thankful for catnip, catnip, and um... catnip.
    3. I would like to invite all my pals - from all over the world - over for a feast (of catnip).
    4. Catnip is a blessing in disguise, undisguised. PURRS

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  7. Sorry about the Internet problems, that's a long time to go without it! Great book review Amber! I've always wanted to read that series since it takes place in a state next to the one I live in, and the titles intrigue me. But, there are many cozy cat mysteries I haven't gotten around to yet.

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  8. Gosh we hope you can get your internet straightened out sooner than that!
    We love the Cat in the Stacks series.

    Several years ago about this time Roby Sweet passed away. She had written the wonderful "Miss Cuddlywumps" series and had another one due out in November of that year...but that never came to be. We wondered if you knew anything about that, as we sure enjoyed the adventures of "Miss C" as well as the true story about her real housemates

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  9. Poor Amber, you look very upset. I am glad you still managed to get a post done though. That looks like an interesting book. Thank you for the review. And thank you to the PA for participating in the fill-ins, great answers. I would love to go to a feast with all of you there. Have a nice weekend and I hope your service is restored much quicker. XO

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  10. Like Brian said, there's nothing service-oriented about your internet! We sure hope it gets fixed real soon. Amber, we will check out that book, based on your review. XO

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